By Aaron Boike, B.S. Kinesiology, ACE Certified Personal Trainer

When it comes to hormones that impact our bodies ability to burn fat and lose weight, insulin takes the cake (no pun intended). Insulin is produced by the pancreas in response to receptors in the digestive system sensing the influx of carbohydrate. When we consume carbohydrate, our body converts it to glucose. This glucose needs some help getting shuttled into cells to be used for energy, and that’s where insulin comes in. Sounds like a good thing, right? Insulin is essential for us to stay alive and have the energy we need to function. However, when insulin is high, the body shuts down fat burning, as it realizes that there is energy readily available in the blood stream. The body chooses to use blood glucose before oxidizing fat stores for energy, and for good reason. Throughout human history, food has been scarce. The conservation and creation of body fat stores kept us alive in times of fasting and famine. In our modern world we have the opposite problem. Food is available everywhere and at anytime, making the storage of body fat more of a nuisance than a necessity.

As we stated earlier, insulin is raised in response to carbohydrate consumption and the increase in blood sugar that results, which is inherently a good thing. When we refine a carbohydrate down into a simple sugar of flour; however, we are dealing with a carbohydrate that digests very quickly, leading to problems with how our body uses insulin. Sugar wasn’t refined into the fine white powder that we know of today until the 1700’s, and certainly wasn’t included in much of our diet until the advent of processed foods more recently. Sugar comes in many forms now, including high fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, evaporated cane juice, honey etc. No matter what you call it, it has the same impact on the body. Flour has an almost equivalent impact as refined sugar does, because it has been refined to the point where it digests extremely rapidly. Our systems simply weren’t built to handle simple sugars and flour, making them almost comparable to a mild poison when consumed in larger quantities. Unfortunately, they are very addictive due to the dopamine (“feel good” hormone) surge we get when we consume them. When we take in sugar, insulin spikes in preparation for shuttling the rush of blood sugar into cells. This spike is fine if it happens once in a while, but in our world full of processed carbohydrate and sugar rich foods, it happens on a very regular basis. This produces a problem called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the result of down-regulation (to put simply, down-regulation = becoming less sensitive) of the insulin receptors on the cells. Because insulin is so high, the cells respond by becoming less sensitive to the hormone. This is similar to what happens when we consume high level of caffeine or nicotine on a regular basis. The receptors in our cells that produce the desired effect down-regulate, becoming less sensitive to the substance. Insulin resistance leads to perpetually high blood sugar, and the release of greater amounts of insulin. As we mentioned earlier, when insulin is high, we do not burn fat for fuel. Therefore, someone who has developed insulin resistance may virtually never be in a “fat burning” state. When this condition reaches a certain point, it is known as Type II Diabetes.

So now that we understand the role of sugar and refined carbohydrates on insulin, what can we do to help improve out bodies response to insulin and get our bodies back to burning fat for fuel?

1. Avoid Sugar and Flour – Sugar and flour are the main causes of the problem, and will continue to make it worse when consumed as a regular part of your diet. Look for added sugars in the ingredients list on labels, and stay away from highly processed and baked goods.
2. Implement a 12-Hour Eating Window – Recent research by Dr. Satchin Panda and colleagues at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that when their rodent participants consumed all of their daily calories within a 9-12 hour window they had healthier blood glucose level, better insulin sensitivity, and lost weight. This outcome happened even when the test subjects did not control for the number or amount of calories they consumed. This research is now being tested on humans with promising results. (Panda et. al., 2014)
3. Eat More Fiber – Fiber slows down the digestion of carbohydrate, therefore, slowing the release of sugar from foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. This results in a lower insulin response. This is why foods that contain natural sugars are less of a concern than their processed counterparts, which often contain little to no fiber. Aim for a diet high in veggies, whole grains, and in lower sugar fruits such as berries and citrus.
4. Focus on Healthy Fats – Having a higher percentage of your daily calories from healthy fats has been shown to lead to greater insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar, and weight loss. Adding nuts, seeds, avocado, coconut, fatty fish, and even grass-fed meats to your nutrition plan are all good options for having more healthy fat in your diet.
5. Seek Help If You Need It – Food addition is a very real thing, and sugar is speculated to be the most addictive food substance there is. In fact, some researchers have dubbed sugar more addictive than cocaine. Often times the addictive pull of food overwhelms ones desire to lose weight. Programs like Bright Line Eating focus on helping people overcome food addiction, lose weight, and live a healthier life.

Sources:

F. (2016, June 30). Dr. Satchin Panda on Time-Restricted Feeding and Its Effects on Obesity, Muscle Mass & Heart Health. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R-eqJDQ2nU

THOMPSON, S. P. (2017). BRIGHT LINE EATING. S.l.: HAY HOUSE UK LTD.